Vegetarians & Protein - Raw Food Edition

Last year Evelyn Parham from Evelyn Parham (dot) com did a great guest post called Do raw food eaters get enough protein?  Over the next few days starting today, I'm going to tell you how we do it as a family living in the Caribbean where a number of the exotic things used for protein by most raw food leaders are either not available here or exorbitant in price.  These are sources of protein for both raw food lovers and vegetarians who do not consume 100% raw food.  Hopefully, those who are transitioning to a vegetarian lifestyle or thinking about it will have the protein question laid to rest between the previous post by Evelyn and the next three.  I have split it up into three posts because the information is quite a lot to fit into one post.

Like I said in Children on a Raw food diet, we are moving towards a ratio of 75 - 85% raw food and so that means we will still be eating 15 - 20% cooked food when we get to our goal. Our eating plan reflects what is known as ovo-pesco vegetarians meaning we eat fish and eggs but no other animal products.




Our protein as a vegetarian family who does not consume milk and milk products come from some of the following foods.  I've included the amount present in each of these foods so that you can have some idea of their protein content. The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of protein according to U.S. government standards is 0.8 gram per kilogram (2.2 pounds) of ideal body weight for the adult. This protein RDA is said to meet 97.5% of the population's needs. An adult male who should weigh about 154 pounds, or 70 kilograms, requires about 56 grams of protein daily. An adult female whose best weight is 110 pounds, or 50 kilograms, needs about 40 grams a day.

Age	Protein RDA*
0-6 months	2.2
6-12 months	2.0
1-3 years	1.8
4-6 years	1.5
7-10 years	1.2
11-14 years	1.0
15-18 years	0.9
19 + years	0.8

[* per kilo of body weight]

Protein Content of Raw Foods We Eat

Description	Weight (g)	Amount	Protein Content (g)
Avocados, raw,	28.35	1 oz	0.45
Beans, Cowpeas, common (blackeyes, crowder, southern), mature seeds,	172	1 cup	13.30
Cabbage, raw	70	1 cup	1.01
Carrots, baby, raw	10	1 medium	0.08
Carrots, raw	110	1 cup	1.13
Cashew nuts, raw	100		17.46
Celery, raw	120	1 cup	0.90
Coconut meat, raw		1 cup	2.66
Coconut water		1 cup	1.73
Coconut milk, raw, liquid expressed from grated milk and water		1 cup	5.33
Cucumber, peeled, raw	119	1 cup	0.68
Cucumber, with peel, raw	104	1 cup	0.72
Garlic, raw	3	1 clove	0.19
Lettuce, cos or romaine, raw	56	1 cup	0.91
Lettuce, looseleaf, raw	56	1 cup	0.73
Onions, raw	110	1 whole	1.28
Onions, spring or scallions (includes tops and bulb), raw	100	1 cup	1.83
Parsley, raw	10	10 sprigs	0.30
Spinach, raw	30	1 cup	0.86
Tomatoes, red, ripe, raw, year round average	180	1 cup	1.53
Tomatoes, red, ripe, raw, year round average	17	1 cherry tomato	0.14
Tomatoes, red, ripe, raw, year round average	123	1 tomato	1.05
Watermelon, raw	286	1 wedge	1.77

Eating a variety of foods as much as possible ensures that we receive the necessary nutrients in our eating plan.


Related posts:

• Vegetarians & Protein - Cooked Food Edition
• Vegetarians & Protein - Other Foods Edition
  

For more foods and their protein content visit the links below:

annecollins.com, weightlossforall.com, fatfreekitchen.com, iloveindia.com, highproteinfoods.net